


The Last Loop

by JarvisUandDUMEtoo



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Invasion, Inspired by Edge of Tomorrow, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 22:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18127421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JarvisUandDUMEtoo/pseuds/JarvisUandDUMEtoo
Summary: A Edge of Tomorrow (Live/Die/Repeat) AU. Every time Tony dies, the loop resets. He’s lived the same day over and over thousands of times, trying to stop the invasion. Tony needs Steve’s help to stop the Chitauri and end the time loop once and for all.





	The Last Loop

### 

. 

Steve was doing push ups in the training simulator. The mechanical claws hanging from the ceiling were supposed to represent Chitauri soldiers, and they jerked around the room unpredictably. One came towards him and he vaulted gracefully over top before returning to his push ups. There was commotion in the hallway and a tall man with black hair and a goatee charged into the training room. He ducked under a claw and walked confidently forward as a second claw passed inches from his face. The man came to a stop in front of Steve and put his hands on his hips. “My name is Tony Stark, I got the Chitauri leviathan blood on me in the attack on the German front tomorrow. I’m stuck in a time loop like you were in in New York.” He rushed out. 

Steve stood up and examined the man. A claw came whirling towards them and they both stepped out of the way, Tony a half a second before Steve. 

“How many times have we had this conversation?” 

“I’ve lost track. You’re holding up four fingers behind your back right now.” 

Steve nodded and dropped his hand, convinced. 

A few months ago, Steve had been an average foot soldier. He had been sent to the front to fight, alongside thousands of other soldiers, in the never ending struggle against the Chitauri. They had appeared from a portal approve New York a few months ago, and razed everything to the ground like a swarm of locust. Steve had joined the US army, and they had sent him to New York with a week of training and a cheap ill made gun. Despite that, Steve had managed to take down one of the big ones, what the generals and scientists were calling a leviathan. 

He had approached it from behind a piece of rubble and opened fire, tearing it open in a splatter of blue blood. The alien turned on him and ripped him open with inch long claws, and they had fallen to the ground together, blood mixing to purple and soaking into the dusty street. Steve felt himself growing weak, and closed his eyes for the last time, glad to go out protecting his country. 

When he opened them again, he was in his bed at the barracks, his unit bustling around him getting ready for the upcoming battle. He ran through the day again, and again, and again, waking up at the barracks every time he died. He used each day to become faster and stronger, to hone his reflexes to razor sharpness. He took out hundreds of Chitauri, to no effect, because they reset every day. 

Finally, finally, he did a perfect run. Between him and the Commandos, they slaughtered every single Chitauri in the state of New York in one grueling day. They worked their way to the very center of the city, where crouched in the center of a demolished tower, they found something new. What looked like a pit of tentacles writhed, surrounded by Chitauri and leviathans. The patrol circled it protectively. Steve had found that if he killed a leviathan, the day reset whether he died or not. He concluded easily enough that that was where he got his ability to reset, but the whys and hows were beyond him. 

Steve brought his team to the tower and ordered them to distract the monsters without killing them. He used the distraction to sneak inside the building and check out the monster. The tentacles were grotesque as he reached out to grab him. Steve cut it off with his shield. After running out of ammo hundreds of times, Steve had switched to a weapon he never needed to reload, and had become familiar enough with it to throw it and have it return to his hand. 

The monster queen let out a screech and the leviathans abandoned their prey to come flying back. Before they could get close, Steve pulled out a belt of granades. He pulled the pins and ran. The force of the explosion knocked him out and Steve prepared to start the day again. 

Instead he woke up in the hospital, people patting him on the back and calling him ‘Captain America’, the man with the plan, a practical superhero. Steve didn’t know if it was killing the queen specifically, or that he had finally gotten them all, but he had broken the loop. It was a new day. 

His celebration had been short lived. After watching the Howling Commandos along with Bucky die over and over, Steve had become desensitized to it. He hadn’t thought twice about sending them off to distract the guards, because if they got hurt they’d wake up next to him, good as new, the next day. 

But the day had stopped resetting and all of the commandos had died in the line of duty, following Steve’s orders. 

Before he had time to come to terms with that, they were sending him to Stuttgart, Germany, where the Chitauri had started a second invasion. New York was the first time they had won a victory against the aliens, and now they needed Steve again. With all his friends dead, he had no reason to say no. He headed out to the front tomorrow, this time with no loop to catch him if he stumbled. 

Now here was some stranger, saying he was caught up in the same sort of thing. 

The stranger hugged him. 

“What are you doing?” Steve asked in confusion, pushing him away. 

“You’ve had a rough time lately, I’m trying to help. And I missed you.” Tony let him go with a sigh and a pat to his shoulder. “Follow me. I like to make modifications on the mech suits and it goes faster when you help.” 

Steve nodded and followed behind him. 

“Have I told you how to stop the loop?” 

“Yes, you’ve told me everything, down to your middle name.” 

“I don’t have a middle name.” 

“Really? That explains why you were being so tight lipped about it. You shared just about everything else. I already know about Bucky.” 

“I wouldn’t tell a stranger about Bucky.” 

Tony stopped walking and turned to look at him. “But we’re not strangers, are we? I’ve been stuck in this stupid loop for decades, I know you better than I know my own mother. We’ve had thousands of conversations, fought together, died together. We’ve had sex, we’ve killed each other, and we’ve done everything in between. I know you, like no one else has ever known you.” 

Steve shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know you.” 

“You won’t remember, so I’m an open book. Anything you want to know, ask; it’s yours.” 

“Tell me something you’ve never told me before.” 

“You say that every time, and the list keeps shrinking.” Tony said fondly and huffed out a breath. He kept his eyes facing forward and said, “I love you, how about that?” 

Steve stumbled then quickly caught back up as Tony strode forward. He put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to a halt. “You don’t mean that.” 

Tony grabbed his wrist and looked him in the eyes. “I do. I’ve gotten to know every single person on this base and in all of the towns near here. And I keep coming back to you.” 

Steve’s fingers curled back and he tried to draw back his hand. Tony held on, his thumb rubbing gently across the pulse in his wrist. It grounded him. 

“So you know everything I’ve done, and you still love me?” 

Tony’s eyes shone with complete certainty. “I love you more for it.” 

Steve let Tony pull him closer, let him rest his head against his shoulder, shifting his grip from his wrist to holding his hand. 

After a few seconds Tony broke away from him and started walking down the hall again. “Chop chop, these mech suits aren’t going to upgrade themselves.” 

Steve frowned and followed him to the hanger bay, and handed him tools as Tony expertly stripped wires and soldered metal. Working with Tony felt natural. Their conversation flowed easily and Tony seemed to know where he would move before he did himself. By the end of the modifications, the suit was unrecognizable. The arms and legs were covered in gold plating, and Tony hammered a missile shell into a crude mask. Steve shivered as Tony slid it over his face, blue eyes peeking out through thick cut holes in the metal. 

“Ready?” 

“Ready.” Steve said, picking up his shield. They boarded a specific transport ship at Tony’s direction, and sat together in the back. The ship rumbled and shook as they flew, and Steve braced himself in the flying harness. The second the bottom of the ship opened up, Tony hit both of their dislodge buttons, sending them streaking towards the ground, rope whipping above their heads as it slowed their fall. Tony cut his rope, and had taken down two Chitauri before Steve landed on the beach and removed his harness. He held up his shield to block a hit, and a second later the monster was blasted back by a pulse of energy from one of Tony’s gauntlets. Tony stepped towards him, yelling to be heard over the noise of the battle. 

“We’re going to try to do a speed run. Whatever you do, don’t stop running until you reach the parking lot of the other side of the hill. Get in the grey car and wait for me.” 

Steve nodded in agreement, and started running. He bashed down Chitauri as they charged at him, and wove his way through the battlefield. His instincts told him to turn around and fight until all the Chitauri laid dead at his feet, but he forced himself to keep moving. Tony had done this before, it was important to follow his plans. He reached the grey car and found the keys in the sun visor. He started it up, and a second later Tony landed on the roof. 

“Drive!” He yelled with a laugh, and Steve pushed the pedal to the floor. They shot out of the parking lot, and down a road headed away from the battle field. Tony blasted any Chitauri that followed, laughing with joy. Steve drove until the car ran out of gas, and eased to a stop. Tony jumped off the roof with a screech of metal and pulled the door open. 

“Now we walk,” he said almost eagerly. 

Steve nodded and got out of the car. They started walking down the road. 

“Where are we going?” 

“There’s an abandoned cabin about a mile from here. That’s as far as I’ve ever gotten. We’ll go there, then decide what’s next.” Tony said, then switched to telling jokes, and asking Steve about his life. 

“You must have heard all of this before.” 

“I like hearing you talk. Now tell me again.” Tony insisted, holding his hand and humming as they walked. Steve smiled and started talking. 

They made it to the cabin and Tony shut the door firmly behind them. He whistled as he opened up a cabinet over the sink and handed Steve a can of beans. A second cabinet produced canned peaches. Tony’s actions held the smoothness of having been done a hundred times, his hands finding the cans without looking. They ate on the coach, sitting so close their legs touched. Tony was still wearing the chestplate of the armor. Once they were done, Steve stood. “We should keep moving.” 

Tony looked up at him, and all of his energy seemed to bleed from his body. “What if we stayed here for a bit? There’s a couple of beds upstairs.” 

Steve shook his head. “We have to find and kill the queen. That’s the only way to stop the loop.” He walked through the kitchen and peered outside the window. His eyes widened. Outside on a long gravel driveway was a two person rotor plane. He pushed the back door open and went outside. Tony grabbed his arm. 

“Please don’t go out there. It probably doesn’t have gas.” 

“Then we’ll fill it up, nobody owns a plane without a way to fuel it.” 

Steve shook Tony off and went outside to inspect the plane. The fuel gauge read half a tank. Steve bet he could get it off the ground, and flying would be much faster and safer than walking. He settled himself in the pilot's seat and started flicking switches. The engine started warming up with a quiet rumble. Tony still stood in the doorway of the kitchen, arm’s crossed. 

“For once, could you please not get in the plane? There’s a perfectly good cabin right here. We could eat canned peaches, watch a movie. Be happy.” 

“We have to find the queen.” Steve insisted. 

Tony stalked over to the plane. “Let me tell you exactly what happens here. You turn on the propeller. The sound attracts the Chitauri in the barn. You die. I die. The day restarts.” 

“There’s no other way out of here besides walking, and we’re miles from anything. We have to take the plane if we’re going to-” 

“-find the queen, yes, I know. I’ve only heard it a thousand times.” Tony interrupted. “I’ve already found the queen. And I’ve stood over the pit with grenades in my hand, and allowed it to kill me.” 

Steve looked up from the plane’s controls in shock. “Why?” 

Tony took a heaving breath. “Because you weren’t there. No matter what I do, you die. If we’re friends, enemies, strangers, if we fly or drive or run. I’ve tried a million combinations a million ways. You always die. And if I kill the queen, you stay dead.” 

Steve closed his eyes and heard Tony’s footsteps as he walked to the plane. Would he have been able to kill the queen if he had known that it would cost Bucky and the Commandos their lives? Steve's hand tightened on the joystick. 

“You have to finish this. Too many lives hang in the balance.” 

“I know.” 

Steve opened his eyes and looked over at Tony who was smiling sadly. 

“I’m saying goodbye, Steve. The first few months, when we struggled and fought and learned to get along, where we made it a little farther each day… Those were some of the best days of my life. I fell in love with you, and I got to watch you fall in love with me, over and over, every day for years. Then we stopped making progress. When we get along, we never make it past the cabin. So, I switched to other strategies. I got you to hate me. It goes better when we fight. We’re both sharper, angrier, more violent. A 12% increase in the speed of our runs, an extra three miles of distance. 

One day I couldn’t take it anymore, and left without ever meeting you. I made it almost all the way. By the end of a month, I was there. 

Tomorrow I’m going to wake up in an army cot, and sneak down to the hunger alone. I’ll wield rockets on the legs of a mech suit, and fly to a small German museum along the border. By time I get there, the invasion will have begun and you’re plane will have been shot down. I’ll fight my way down through three levels of Chitauri, and find the queen. I’ve done it before, I know how to do it again. I’ll use the grenades to kill her and end the loop and the war with it." Tony looked away. 

"I just wanted one more day with you. The way it used to be, when I was young and invincible and didn’t know what it was like to have you hate me.” 

Steve swallowed. “Was it a good day?” 

Tony looked back at him and a single tear ran down his cheek. “The very best. I love you, Steve.” 

Steve leaned over the side of the plane and kissed him. “I love you too, Tony.” 

Then he flipped the final switch and the propeller started spinning with a load roar. A group of ten Chitauri burst from the barn and raced towards the plane. 

“Over a decade of loops, and that’s the first time I’ve heard you say it.” Tony said. Steve took his hand and held on tight, and the men who died a million deaths both died for the second to last time. 

. 

###### 

. 

Steve was doing push ups in the training simulator. The mechanical claws hanging from the ceiling were supposed to represent Chitauri soldiers, and they jerked around the room unpredictably. One came towards him and he vaulted gracefully over top before returning to his push ups. There was commotion in the hallway and a tall man with black hair and a goatee ran down the hallway. Steve didn’t recognize him and didn’t give chase. He had bigger things to worry about, like how he would drive back the Chitauri without advance knowledge of their movements. A few hours later he suited up and prepared to strap himself into the hold of one of the planes alongside fifty other men. Over a hundred planes would be leaving the hanger this morning, and it was loud and chaotic. From the corner of his eye he caught a flash of light, and he watched as a gold streak raced across the sky in a burst of flame. Maybe a missile? 

He boarded his plane and the engines rumbled then died. Someone announced over crackling speakers that there were mechanical troubles and it would be an hour before they got into the air. Steve waited impatiently in the hold until they fixed the problem. Rumors of sabotage ran rampant. Whatever was wrong with the plane wasn’t normal wear and tear. Finally they took off, slow and rumbling. He could hear explosions as they approached the battlefield, and the plane tilted alarmingly as the pilot tried to avoid oncoming fire. There was a boom and the plane shook, trying to hold level. The bottom of the plane opened up, and Steve descended down a rope to the ground alongside his unit. The fighting on the ground was chaotic, and Steve stretched his reflexes to their fullest extent to block shots from the Chirtauri coming from all sides. The Chitauri soldier in front of him paused and Steve used the opening to knock him down with a throw of his shield. The shield bounced back to his hand and he turned to block an incoming blow. No strike came. The Chitauri behind him was frozen. Steve turned his head and realized that all of the aliens were standing stock still. Then as one, they fell to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut. Steve approached one cautiously and kicked it. It didn’t move. It was dead, and somehow the humans had won. Cheers rose up from all across the battlefield. 

Later that night Steve found himself back on the base. He still felt too guilty over the Commandos to celebrate the victory as raucously as the others. He walked to his quarters, where he found a tall man sitting against his door with his head in his hands. 

“Do you mind?” He snapped, not in the mood to deal with a drunk. The man whipped his head up, eyes wide. 

“It worked? Oh my god, it worked.” He scrambled to his feet and held out a hand. Steve cautiously shook it. Instead of letting go like a normal person, the man held on tightly. 

“I’m Tony, you’re Steve, and I just broke a time loop.” 

Steve’s eyes widened and he opened his door, gesturing for Tony to go inside. “I think we have a lot to talk about.” 

Tony’s smile grew. “We sure do.” 

Then they stepped inside, together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
